Center Projects

Following the Internet of Production framework, E4TC and its members develop real-life solutions for Digital Transformation covering product development, manufacturing and customer processes. Current examples include:

Complexity Manager and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Complexity Manager helps optimize product ranges reducing uneconomic complexity. The method and software identify and quantify complexity drivers. Resulting decisions change configuration rules and possibilities which are handed over automatically to the product development process via the PLM system. Engineers are informed early on about relevant configurations for development and test.

Weight Management App

Many circumstances can be summarized more easily in industrial apps than in traditional enterprise systems. We store measurable requirements, e.g., product weight forecasts, in the PLM system and its Engineering Bill go Material objects (eBOM). A simple push-button-app analyses these values continuously to support management control loops and decision-making.

Integration of Product and Production Engineering

This project closes the gap between development and manufacturing engineering, using the example of electrical car bodies. Engineering BOM and Manufacturing BOM (mBOM) views are provided from an integral PLM database as a single source of truth. Product and production engineers can work in parallel and iteratively, combining agility and efficiency. This includes eBOM information, manufacturing resources and work instructions.

Digital Shadow

The Demonstration Factory Aachen features a multitude of sensors, IT systems and connected machinery. A cloud-based Internet of Things platform aggregates monitoring data from all available sources, and makes them visual in variably designed analyses and apps.

Connected Machinery

Our intralogistics demonstrator shows the means and benefits of connected machinery and equipment for high availability and productivity. Its digital shadow shows real-time technical data and analyses like temperature, pressure, vibration as well as travel paths and transport box positions. Preventative maintenance is enabled through empirical calculations of remaining component life times. Related service procedure productivity is supported with Augmented Reality solutions.

Connected Products

Connected products are a major topic in the Internet of Things. The pedelec-driven e.GO Kart is equipped with various sensors to monitor and analyse behavior and condition during usage in real-time. From the connectivity kit, data are sent to a cloud-based IoT platform. Apps show resulting values like geolocation, acceleration, and module condition in an intuitive and user-friendly way.